Centennial Circle honorees Tom Baker, Drs. Mary and Norbert Bublis

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Herald today begins a series featuring honorees in the city's Centennial Circle of Honor.

The Centennial Circle of Honor permanently recognizes citizens who have made a positive impact on Plainview over the past 100 years. The color-stained concrete circle featuring honorees' names on bronze plaques is located at the circle of the entry to Runningwater Draw Regional Park near Kidsville.

The project is sponsored by the Plainview Lions Club, Centennial Committee and the City of Plainview's Parks Advisory Commission.

A total of 59 names will be included due to 15 of the 44 plaques containing two names.

The Herald will feature each of the honorees in 19 parts, leading up to the dedication of the Centennial Circle of Honor at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.

Biographies were written and edited by Fryar Calhoun and Danny Andrews from family and other sources.

Tom Baker

Tom Baker has been a tireless promoter of the Plainview community since he moved here in 1947 and opened his business, first as an agent for Fidelity Union Insurance, later as a broker for several other companies.

Twice president of the Noon Optimist Club, he was personally responsible for recruiting more than half of the club's new members since the 1970s, worked in various capacities in the Optimist-sponsored Summer Baseball Program, sold thousands of dollars' worth of tickets for fundraisers and was active in many other church, civic and charitable projects through the years.

He is a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, a recipient of the chamber's Citizen Through the Years award, a member of the Plainview-Hale County Industrial Foundation, a former Boy Scout leader, a United Way volunteer and a member of the First Baptist Church.

Tom was born in 1921 in Paris, Texas, grew up there, served for two years in the Army, then returned as a World War II veteran and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his wife Sylvia have a son and two grandchildren.

Drs. Mary D. and Norbert J. Bublis

Drs. Mary and Norbert Bublis were prominent local physicians for more than four decades. Both had practiced medicine for years when they moved to Plainview in 1957. Her M.D. degree was from Washington University in St. Louis, and his was from St. Louis University, in the same city. She was born Mary Davis on the last day of 1920 in Utah, and he was born in 1910 in Illinois. They had seven children and 17 grandchildren.

"Dr. Mary," as she was known, was a leading force in modernizing mental health issues and treatment in Plainview and West Texas. As her reputation grew, people in need of mental health attention knew they could count on her professional insight and personal sympathy. In addition to her local private practice, over the years she served as medical director of the High Plains Children's Training Center, Hale County Law Enforcement Center, Hale County Health Department and Central Plains MH-MR Center. Dr. Mary also taught psychology at Wayland Baptist University and served on the boards of the Hale County Child Welfare Unit, South Plains Health Provider Organization, City-County Health Unit and Council on Domestic Violence. She was named Plainview's Woman of the Year in 1968.

Dr. Norbert Bublis, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, had practiced medicine in Missouri, New York and Temple, Texas, for nearly two decades when the Bublises moved to Plainview, where he continued until 1988, for a practice more than 50 years long. He was a member of the American Medical Association, Texas Medical Association, Texas Orthopedic Association and the Tri-County Medical Society.

As one of their services to the community, for years the Bublises conducted complimentary physical examinations for the members of a number of sports teams and local organizations such as the Boy Scouts.